


Our souls are made of stardust

by Miss_Readly



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Character Development, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gallifrey, Idiots in Love, Love, Love Confessions, Romance, Romantic Fluff, TARDIS - Freeform, Time Lord, Time Travel, Time and space, doctor who - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Readly/pseuds/Miss_Readly
Summary: Stella was just a kid when she ran off with the Doctor. She left her old life and her past behind. Let's go into the universe and of to the stars by the side of her best friend. Now she is nineteen years old and has never stopped ever since. Stella seems to be different than all previous companions of the Doctor. Protecting the earth and fighting aliens never seemed more beautiful. But after years of friendship, something changes in Stella. She is not a child anymore and as feelings develop for a certain Timelord who understands very little for his outstanding intellect and the past of the two seems to catch up with them, there are more than just problems. The aliens are suddenly not the biggest threat anymore!Was their first encounter really so accidental?What happens when Stella learns about his past?What if the Doctor has to make the hardest decision of his long life?Will his curse to lose everyone he loves also hit Stella?How will Stella deal with his dark secret?
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/OC, Tenth Doctor/Original Female Character, Tenth Doctor/Stella Walker, The Doctor/ Stella Walker, The Doctor/OC, The Doctor/Original Female Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. f o r e w o r d

𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎,

𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚕𝚢,

𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜.

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚔,

𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍,

𝚆𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜,

𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜,

𝙾𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚡𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏.

𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎,

𝚆𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍.

𝙶𝚘, 𝚘𝚗

𝚃𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛

𝚆𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚟𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚜,

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜.

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞,

𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢,

𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗.

𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚜.

𝚈𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎,

𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘,

𝙴𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕.


	2. o n e

_**Somewhere in the vortex, 809467773° ' 67349"S 9339° 07' 14.01"E Time and Space** _

A hissing sounded and grey smoke rose from the console of the TARDIS. Lamps looked red and green and sounded the alarm. Everything wobbled as the Doctor randomly flipped any switches. I clung to the steel railing as the TARDIS went into a ninety degree slant. We roared through the time vortex and the blue box shook. The Doctor laughed and clung on as well. His hair stood wild on all sides and his eyes sparkled with adventure lust.

"Doctor! Where are we going?" I shouted against the metallic screeching and coughed the inhaled smoke from my lungs.

"You'll see, Stell." he called and grinned mischievously at me. At the next shock my hand slipped off the metal bar. I screamed in surprise as the TARDIS turned on its own axis and I flew across the control room again.

I pressed my eyes tightly together and armed myself against the collision with the wall, but at the last moment a hand enclosed my ankle. I hung upside down, if I stretched out my arm I could touch the wall. Gratefully I looked up and the Doctor grinned at me with one arm convulsively surrounding the railing. My ankle was burning from his clamp grip. He kept grinning at me.

"Where are you going?" he asked and his eyes sparkled mockingly as the brown hair hung in his forehead. I crossed my arms and gave him a long glare.

"I just wanted to hang out for a sec. I like it here quite well," I replied sarcastically and slowly turned around my own axis. The Doctor's handle opened unintentionally and he groaned with effort. He gave the smoking console a courageous kick and whined afterwards, nevertheless it showed effect and the TARDIS turned in such a fast movement again into the stable position that we rolled once across the room and crashed in a ball from arms, legs and converse chucks against the wall. I groaned painfully and rubbed my back. The Doctor was immediately back on his feet and hurried back to the steering where he finally managed to crash-land the TARDIS halfway safely.

"Phew," he said relieved, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand and looking mischievously at me. I couldn't help but laugh, shaking my head.

He grabbed his coat and put it on in an elegant movement before turning around and holding out his hand to me.

"Come on. Let's see where we've landed." he challenged me and wiggled his fingers impatiently. He was full of energy and immediately his excitement passed on to me as well. He hadn't wanted to tell me where we were going. Curiously I grabbed his pleasantly warm hand and looked at him expectantly.

"Allons-y, Stell!" Then he pulled me out the door.


	3. t w o

_The little girl with the bright blue eyes and the golden blond hair stood uncertainly in front of him and looked lost in the huge control room of the TARDIS. She plucked anxiously at the hem of her thin night-hem and then looked at him with her big eyes. "Hello," the Doctor said to her and squatted down to be at eye level with the little one. "He introduced himself and shook her hand hesitantly. Furthermore, her eyes were on him inquiring. "Doctor Who?" She asked_ _and looked at him examining. He smiled._ _"Exactly."_

* * *

_**Champs de Mars,** _ _**Arrondissement du Palais Bourbon,** _ _**48° 51′ 22″N , 2° 17′ 52″E Paris, France /** _ _**August 31st 1997** _

"Doctor. Where are we?" I asked and tried to see something through his fingers, but his hands covered my eyes.

"Better said, when are we?" I corrected myself, but still received no answer. I sighed.

"You will see right away" he promised and I stumbled blindly a few more steps ahead. Then he took his soft hands off my eyes. I blinked against the sunlight and saw how he stood in front of me and took away my complete sight. Then he took a step aside and - and behind him the Eiffel Tower came into sight. It was a beautiful summer evening and the light of the evening sun broke into the thousand drops of the water fountains. Behind the huge steel colossus the sun set and everything shone in warm colours. The light cast distorted shadows through the canopy of the trees that formed the avenue of the Champs de Mars. Cars and cyclists drove across the streets. Tourists ran around sporadically and enjoyed the warm summer evening at the Seine.

I turned to the Doctor, who watched me silently, and beamed at him.

"Which year do we have?" I asked cheerfully.

"It is the evening of August 31, 1997" the Doctor informed me and shielded his eyes with his hand from the light to look up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

"August 31, 1997?" I asked confusedly.

"I was just two years old. Five years before I met you." I replied and smiled at him. He returned the smile and drove himself through the hair, making it even more tousled.

"The date tells me something, what was that day?" I asked after a short thought. His smile faded.

"A black day for England," he replied.

"But what - Oh." I fell silent and looked down, shocked. When I looked up again, Doctor returned my gaze firmly.

"The anniversary of the death of Lady Di." he stated.

"Is that why we're here?"

"No." He looked towards the sky, as if he would see the answer there.

"It must be something else that led us here." He had still narrowed his eyes skeptically and fixed something on the top of the Eiffel Tower. His lips were slightly open and his teeth clenched. I followed his gaze, but didn't see anything. He shook his head and immediately beamed at me again.

"The Paris of the nineties is great" he told me when he took my hand again and looked at me with his bright brown eyes. If I wanted, I could count the freckles on his face.

"We're going to the Eiffel Tower first," he said and promptly led me in the wrong direction, past the TARDIS parked in the shade of a flowering chestnut tree.

"Doctor! We're walking the wrong direction," I warned him and pulled his hand.

"No, we don't" he replied and marched on only to turn back a few meters further.

"We are running in the wrong direction" he told me and pulled me rehearsing the opposite direction.

I sighed and followed him back the other direction.


	4. Chapter 4

_"What's your name?" the Doctor asked the little girl._

_"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." she mumbled softly. The Doctor looked at her in a frightened manner and attacked his breast in acted disbelief, so that she giggled._

_"But I am not a stranger! I am the Doctor."_

_"My name is Stella," she introduced herself shyly and fixed the warm brown eyes of the man opposite her with her cool pale blue eyes._

_"Stella. Like the stars. A beautiful name." he smiled at her broadly and made her giggle again._

* * *

_**Champs de Mars,** _ _**Arrondissement du Palais Bourbon,** _ _**48° 51′ 22″N , 2° 17′ 52″E Paris, France /** _ _**August 31st 1997** _

"Doctor, why are we here? Why did the TARDIS take us here?" I asked the Doctor as I hurried to keep up with him and his long legs. He stopped so abruptly in front of a park bench that I almost walked into him. I groaned annoyed as the Doctor almost casually scanned the park bench with his sonic screwdriver, then looked at the result and looked around dissatisfied.

"Doctor? Yoo-hoo? Doctor!" I seemed to have finally ripped him out of his trance, for he looked at me as if he saw me for the first time today, before the smile replaced the place in his eyes again.

"What are we doing here?" I repeated my question.

"I don't have the slightest idea! Isn't that exciting?" he replied, putting the sound screwdriver back into the shallows of his pinstripe suit and clapping his hands with delight.

"Come on. Paris doesn't wait forever," he said, again entangling his fingers with mine.

"Did you know, for example, that Paris was completely destroyed in the 31st century and that in the 53rd century it was completely rebuilt on a moon of Saturn? It even has two Eiffel Towers standing on their peaks! On their peaks, Stell! Can you imagine that? Oh, that's where we're going next! You have to see that." he started talking and I just smiled silently. The evening sunlight made the Eiffel Tower shine warm and for a short moment I wished it would be a quiet stroll through old Paris without any aliens trying to destroy mankind or earth.

*oOo*

We strolled together along the banks of the Seine and I enjoyed the last rays of sunshine on my skin. It was like a fairy tale. It smelled like fresh-baked bread from the bakery across the street, a street musician played a cheerful piece on his accordion and I rummaged through the stands of the bouquinists. Only after a short time did I come across a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire that had become somewhat old. I read a few poems and had a nice chat with the older gentleman who had been running this stand for several decades. But my laughter almost got stuck in my throat as soon as I looked at a daily newspaper.

"Doctor! Look at that" I called him and tore him away from an old couple with whom he had fed ducks together. Surprised, he looked at me and stumbled after me.

The moment he saw the cover of the daily newspaper, his eyes darkened, he frowned and his eyebrows pulled together.

"Blimey! I could have guessed," he cursed. The Doctor tore the issue out of its stand and ran off. I threw a few coins at the outraged salesman and ran after the Doctor through the streets of Paris.

He asked "Where, but where?" after he had come to a stop again on the Champs de Mars and turned wildly around himself in a circle. Once again he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and scanned the surroundings.

"They must be here somewhere, Stell," he murmured thoughtfully and I also took a closer look at our surroundings.

"Doctor, if they were among us, somebody would have noticed something. I mean just because of the president's picture? Maybe it was just some kind of false alarm. A tea visit with the French president" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Stell! You know as well as I do that they are underneath the people here. - Oh brilliant! You are brilliant, Stella. Underneath us! The catacombs!"

He was now so close to my face that I could count every single freckle on his face. I saw his wakened, warm brown eyes sparkle and they fixed with mine, glowing. His fuzzy brown hair hung crazy in his forehead. It was the typical I-know-what-what-no-single-being-else-knows-because-I-am- the-Doctor-look. I bit my tongue to prevent the question from leaving my lips. But I couldn't help it.

"What are you talking about, Doctor?" I asked and thus didn't manage to keep my curiosity in check for more than a few seconds.

He said "Stell" and stroked a strand of hair from my forehead.

"Paris is huge and it's actually two cities. One city is the city of eternal love and lies before all eyes on the surface. But the second city, it has never seen daylight before, Stell! An endless tangle of bones. Hidden from all our eyes. Underneath our feet, Stell. Literally," he said and his eyes sparkled.

"The catacombs" I was carried away by his excitement.

"Exactly. That's where we'll find them. There is no better place!"


	5. f o u r

_"Well, Stella, welcome to the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." he announced radiantly. But the young girl looked at him without understanding._

_"Oh, no matter. Not so important. I can travel everywhere through time and space with it! So Stella star, where do you want to go" The man with the crazy hair asked her. Stella's eyes grew big._

_"Everywhere?" she repeated in disbelief._

_"Everywhere. Wherever you want." confirmed the Doctor. He was a funny Doctor._

_"Then I want to..."_

* * *

_**Champs de Mars,** _ _**Arrondissement du Palais Bourbon,** _ _**48° 51′ 22″N , 2° 17′ 52″E Paris, France /** _ _**August 31st 1997** _

We hurried around a street corner again. The Doctor's trench coat fluttered elegantly in the wind and the soles of our chucks hit the hard cobblestone incessantly.

"This way" he shouted over his shoulder and quickened his steps a little bit more. A sharp bend to the right and he stopped so abruptly that I stumbled over him. I clawed myself to his trench coat and tore him to the ground with me, heroically as I am. We rolled over the dusty asphalt and lay on the kerbstone. The Doctor twisted his face in pain, because my knee was just drilling very unpleasantly into his side. He also had the sidewalk in his back and so his position looked anything but comfortable.

Carefully I supported myself with my elbows and tried to lift my body weight from his body. He hissed briefly as I removed my knee from his side.

"Sorry," I murmured, not being able to suppress the redness that crept up my neck. I gave him my hand and pulled him back on his feet. He only held his side for a moment before bending over the manhole cover next to our shoes unperturbed and full of energy. A short wave with the sonic screwdriver and the closures of the lid sprang open as if by magic.

I looked around and assured myself, while the Doctor already opened the heavy flap groaning. Flapping darkness appeared underneath and a torrent of stagnant air and mildew sloshed towards us. Disgusted, I distorted my face and held my nose.

The Doctor grinned at me mischievously and winked at me amusedly.

"I hate you sometimes, you know that?" I murmured.

"I know and now off you go. Lady's first." Still the gloating joy on the lips and the warm brown of his eyes glowed with mischief.

"Be careful that I don't push you right down there if you keep grinning so stupidly" I replied and surrendered sighing to my fate.

"Me? Never! You like me much too much for that. Besides, you would not be able to travel in time anymore." Unfortunately he was right. I liked him too much. Idiot.

The smell didn't get any better as soon as I climbed down the slippery iron steps that were bricked into the bare wall. The Doctor was right on my heels.

"Why can we never end up on the Bahamas or Bora Bora? The Cote d'Azur would be enough for me." I asked.

"That would be much too boring," Doctor replied. I just snorted.

The steps went down for an eternity and soon the rest of the daylight, which had just fallen through the hatch, disappeared. In the dark I felt my way down the steps and tried not to pay attention to the sticky stuff on my fingers. The smell didn't get any better the further down we went. Suddenly my right foot hit a rough stone. We had arrived.

"Attention," I warned the Doctor before he stepped on me. I heard two feet coming up on the floor next to me and felt his warmth close to my body. The fabric of his suit scratched rough on the back of my hand. I shivered and wrapped my arms around me. Down here it was much cooler and I rubbed the goose bumps on my naked arms. It was so dark, I couldn't see my hand in front of my eyes. The Doctor's breath blew gently against my ear and I smelled his unmistakable smell of machine oil, expensive eau de toilette and bergamot.

I couldn't help but inhale deeply the familiar scent of the Time Lord next to me and feel something of the excitement and nervousness coming off me. My shoulder relaxed. I felt the hard rock walls next to me and stretched out my hand. The passage where we were was so narrow that we could only stand next to each other with difficulty. Our shoulders grazed the cold stone and each other. His hand looked for mine in the darkness and entertained with mine. With his soft thumb he stroked the back of my hand.

My other hand palpated the surface of the wall next to me. It was quite uneven, but strangely smooth. Surprised I stroked further.

The Doctor switched on a flashlight from his coat pocket and lit the hallway daylight. Suddenly a skull grinned right in front of my face and I screamed in horror before I pressed a hand on my mouth. Everywhere on the walls of the illuminated corridor were thousands and, however, thousands of bones.

"It is all good. They've been dead a long time," the Doctor tried to calm me.

"The fact doesn't make it any better," I mumbled still frightened and threw a fearful look at the bones next to me.

The Doctor pressed my hand and gave me the flashlight. Then he noticed how I trembled. Only a few seconds later he had taken off his brown trench coat and put it around my shoulders. I slipped into his sleeves. They were much too big for me, but the coat warmed me up and smelled intensely of Doctor. I snuggled into the fabric and pulled it tighter around my body.

The Doctor smiled at me and we took a few steps forward. His hand continued to hold mine tightly. Courageously I began to examine my environment.

I asked the Doctor "How many are there?"

"Naah. About seven or eight million people since the 18th century," he said and looked critically at the bones. His eyebrows were raised and he had opened his eyes wide.

"I still remember how it started. Bad time, the plague. So many dead! It was terrible! No more place in the cemeteries! So they were all brought under the city. The corridors offered themselves, for they were still remnants of the limestone mining of bygone times. The Parisians had beaten an endless tunnel system under their city. Sometimes there were even collapses and whole blocks of houses disappeared into the depths. Today the statics of the tunnels are constantly tested. I still remember this little girl who was afflicted by the plague. I wanted to explain to the doctors how they should heal her and that it wouldn't help to let her bleed, but nobody wanted to listen to me again. No one ever listens to me," he explained angrily, but finally interrupted himself.

"Ready, little star?" he questioned me with one of his pet names for me which he had made up over the years.

A rat scurried further ahead over the damp ground. I swallowed, tightened my shoulders and nodded.

"Always."


	6. f i v e

_"Where would you like to go first, Stella?" asked the Doctor. The girl didn't even think about it for a long time._

_"I want to go home," she said. The Doctor smiled sadly and gently stroked the child's cheek. The girl, however, did not understand his grief._

_"That is not possible, Stella. I wish I could, but I can't." The sparkle in his eyes went out. He felt sorry for Stella._

_"Then I want to ride on a T-Rex" she announced excitedly._

_"Well, that's a wish I can only support! So let's go!" He ran around to the console of the TARDIS, pulled some levers, pressed buttons, operated switches and pushed up knobs. Stella watched him with fascination. The room began to glow green and groaning, sighing and vwoorping sounded._

_"On our way to the dinosaurs! Allons-y, little star."_

* * *

_**Catacombes de Paris** _ _**,** _ _**Arrondissement de l'Observatoire** _ _**,** _ **_48° 50′ 2,4″N , 2° 19′ 56,4″E_ ** _**Paris, France /** _ _**August 31st 1997** _

Together we bravely stepped into the all swallowing darkness deeper into the tangle of bones and stone. I knew the stories of the people who had never found out again and whose bones still lie here today. A shiver ran down my spine and I automatically moved closer to the Doctor.

We walked silently next to each other and listened to the steady drop of water and beeping of the rats. Small stones crunched under the rubber soles of our shoes. The glow of the flashlight illuminated the path only a few meters away. Behind it the yawning blackness opened its throat far. The corridors were a labyrinth with countless dead ends and wrong tracks, so that it didn't take long until the yellowish glow of the flashlight fell on a wall beaten into the raw rock. Here the path forked to the left and right. It was impossible to see where the paths led.

"Doctor, are you sure they're down here?" I whispered and didn't dare speaking at normal volume. The corridors were scary to me and the flashlight's glow threw creepy grimaces at the walls.

"They must be here, Stell. I'm sure of it," he assured me. I did not argue.

The right passage was covered with rubble, so we turned to the left.

"I don't like the whole thing, Doctor," I mumbled quietly.

Suddenly a bluish light appeared before us in the darkness. Immediately the Doctor switched off his flashlight.

"Ssh! Shshsh!" he suddenly interrupted me. He pressed his hand on my mouth and pulled me into a corner in the wall. I was pressed tight against his body and prayed nervously that the Dalek had not heard us. I heard my heartbeat and the Doctor's breath warmly stroking my ear. I felt his heartbeat and warmth through the rough fabric of his coat. His hand was slightly sweaty and I took a deep breath of his smell.

My blood pounded so loudly through my veins that I was almost sure you could hear it up to Notre Dame. The Doctor pushed himself a little further in front of me. The Dalek passed, but I dared not breathe.

A little later I heard the buzzing of the air, whether the mechanical sounds of the Dalek had long since faded away. The Doctor's gentle breath tickled my throat. The heaps of scrap metal hadn't noticed us! Relieved, I blew the stopped air back out to the nostrils. The Doctor was still holding me and began to loosen his embrace. I would have liked to have pulled him tight again, but there were more important things. The earth had to be protected from the most dangerous aliens in the universe. And that was exactly our task! Yet I could not deny that I missed the Doctor's warmth when he had taken a few steps away.

I followed just a few steps behind him and tried to bypass large arches around the puddles that had accumulated in the spheres in the ground so as not to stain the blue canvas of my chucks. My heart rate calmed down only moderately and my breathing was still accelerated. Again the passage ended and a draught made the Doctor's coat around my legs flutter.

I hissed "Doctor!" However, he only raised his hand and meant to be quiet to me. He pressed against the rock and lined around the corner. I heard the fabric of his pinstripe suit scratch along the wall before he flinched back. Alarmed, I stopped and waited for his instructions.

When I didn't get an answer, I slowly approached and looked behind him around the corner. Frightened, I also flinched back. The corridor went over into a big cave. A blue light dimly illuminated the room. Several consoles and screens glowed. But that was not what put me in such a state of shock. It was the beings that had gathered around the different screens. Seven Daleks were gathered in this underground cave.

I gasped. The Doctor looked over at me. His look was serious and his forehead was wrinkled.

"There are only seven of them." he whispered. "Not even a whole ship!"

"Eight with the one from just now" I added. He nodded and his fantastic hair bobbed.

"Only one question remains. Where is the bloody rest?"


	7. Chapter 7

_**Catacombes de Paris** _ _**,** _ _**Arrondissement de l'Observatoire** _ _**,** _ **_48° 50′ 2,4″N , 2° 19′ 56,4″E_ ** _**Paris, France /** _ _**August 31st 1997** _

"I have an incredibly bad feeling, Doctor." I mumbled near his ear. He stayed silent and watched the scene that was in front of him.  
"What now?" I asked him and hoped that he could give me an answer.   
"We have to find out what they are up to" he whispered and gave me a look from the side. I turned my head towards him and looked straight into his eyes and there I saw it. Even before I could cast out a surprised curse, I heard the fateful words. It sounded as if they were rubbing iron against iron. The metallic sound that made my hair stand up on my neck.  
"Ex-ter-mi-nate!" The Doctor shot around and pulled me into a narrow passage next to himself. The deadly beam missed me by a hair's breadth. We hadn't noticed how the machine approached us from behind, so distracted had we been from the spectacle before us.   
I cursed and gasped for air. I heard the buzzing in the air.   
"The Doctor was sighted," the electronic, cold voice sounded behind us.  
"Now everyone knows! Run, Stella" the Doctor shouted to me.

"What if this is a dead end, Doctor?" I asked doubtingly, but did not even for a second slow down my steps.  
"Then we lived thirty seconds longer." the Doctor grinned at me and pulled me around a corner again by the sleeve of his coat. The walls on my sides were getting closer and closer and the ceiling was getting lower and lower. Suddenly he grabbed me and we pressed against a wall.  
"Do you hear that?" he asked almost silently.  
"What?  
"Nothing." Then I understood it.  
"We lost them?"   
"For now what it looks like, yes." I swallowed and took a few deep breaths. Then I looked at him and he looked at me. Suddenly both of us started giggling at the same time.  
"We were just chased by a Dalek across the catacombs of Paris and almost died." I laughed hysterically and held my stomach. Also the Doctor laughed heartily. And there I saw it. Something I saw every day about him and what still fascinated me after all these years and attracted me undeniably. This mysterious thing that surrounds him. The starlight in his eyes and the dust of space in his hair. The smell of the infinite secrets of the universe. The promise of more. He smelled foreign like he was from another period of time. His eyes flashed in the dim light.

Curiosity in the Doctor was woken. The desire to protect his earth at any cost. He was there and he would not give up humanity and consecrate it to destruction by the Daleks. He would save us all again. I firmly believed in it. That's why I gave him a warm smile that surprised him a little, but made his reply all the more radiant. Laughing I fell around his neck and gave him a soft kiss on the stubbly cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked cheerfully.  
"Just like that. Well, and maybe for saving my ass. Whereby, you actually put me in danger when I think about it..." I said and stuck out my tongue to him. It had always been that way. The Doctor always saved me. He had already done it in so many different ways, even if it was usually him who first put me in a danger. I entrusted my life to him. So far I had not regretted it a single second. When we had met each other for the first time, he had saved my life.

He twisted his eyes and pressed me to himself again before he let me go.   
"Let's see where we've landed." I grabbed his hand and we followed the way down.   
For a short moment I forgot the approaching threat to humanity or my near-death. There were no crazy aliens who wanted to seize world domination and make a mess of my home planet.   
For a short moment I just enjoyed the feeling of my hand in his. How his shoulder touched mine.  
For a short moment I just lived now.  
For a short moment there was only us. The Doctor and me.

*oOo*

As soon as the view of a wide space under the earth begged us, the way fell downwards. It was one of the most beautiful and magical places I had ever seen before. The sight was breathtaking. Stone arches stretched across the vaulted ceiling and ended in columns on the floor. They were artfully decorated and stretched across the infinite vastness of this room. But the best thing was the turquoise, crystal clear water that flooded the room.   
"Where are we?" I asked the Time Lord beside me excitedly. He also looked at the place in front of him in disbelief.   
"Welcome to the Parisian Opera, Stella."


	8. s e v e n

**_Opéra Garnier_** _ **,**_ _ **Arrondissement de l'Opéra**_ _ **,** **48° 52′ 14″N, 2° 19′ 56″E**_ _**Paris, France /**_ _ **August 31st 1997**_

"It's beautiful here." I whispered, still overwhelmed. Hesitantly I stepped closer to the water edge and stared down. The Doctor stepped behind me and together we reflected in the clear water. My brown-haired friend kept turning back to the direction we had just come from.

"We have to go on, Stella," he said tense and drove his hand through his hair. I sighed surrendered and finally nodded.

"Why are they here?" I asked him still looking into the deep turquoise of the water below us. The Doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"The TARDIS led us here. The Daleks will not remain in the darkness of the catacombs forever. There are still too few, but they have a plan, but what? What! Argh." He knocked himself against his forehead and looked angry. Gently I took his hand.

"There are too few! They are waiting for reinforcements. I watched the monitors. They are radioing the rest of the ships. But something doesn't work," he continued and rubbed his temples.

"They're trying to fix it right now. I have to prevent this signal from being sent, Stell," he muttered and looked at me through the messy strands of his hair. I knew about his personal problems with the Daleks. His eyes reflected despair and worry again. I liked to cheer him up, but I didn't know how.

I saw my helpless look reflected in his glasses and looked down. The Doctor followed my eyes. The black little hearts drawn with Edding on his shoes shimmered in the dim light.

Whenever I was bored, I decorated his shoes. He had never complained and secretly I believed that he loved it and he was proud of it. His gaze also seemed to fall on it. When I raised my head again, I met, as so often, his warm brown eyes and smiled at him. He looked back briefly, then shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"Time's running out. We have to go." Again I looked around. But we stood at the end of a staircase that led only into the deep water. Just below the surface of the water there was a wide pipe. My eyes crossed his gaze and I could literally read his thoughts.

"We don't even know where it leads. And how high is the water above it?" I tried weakly to object. His haunting look silenced all objections.

I walked down the last steps of the stairs and my shoes squeaked on the wet ground. The next step was already in the water. It was freezing cold and also the Doctor's coat sucked itself full of water at the hem. The pipe was steady enough to walk on it, but the water made it difficult to balance. It was exhausting, but I kept pushing forward. Behind me I heard the water splashing as the Doctor took his first steps. We walked silently to avoid attracting unnecessary attention.

The water rose steadily and reached my knees in the meantime. Soon, however, light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

"Well finally" I grumbled. But the pipe ended abruptly in a wall. Two meters further above appeared the lattice of a stair railing and the light of electric light fell on the water surface.

"How do we get up there?" The Doctor bent over a bit.

"Get on my shoulders and pull yourself up," the Doctor asked me. I look at him doubtfully.

"Come on! I'm not made of sugar, Stella. I'll be able to carry your little weight." he assured me with a mischievous grin.

"I'm a bit heavier than a little" I replied, but he just staggered. As soon as I got on his shoulders, he groaned and swayed under my weight.

"Woe to you if you let me fall" I threatened between clenched teeth and the rust of the iron bars drilled painfully into the palms of my hands. The Doctor just groaned.

"Yes, yes," the Doctor replied with exertion.

I pulled myself up a bit on the railing and faltered as the tips of black polished shoes appeared in my field of vision. The right foot bobbed impatiently up and down. My gaze continued to glide up the person in front of me. A formal blue pair of service trousers with golden buttons and a flashlight in the belt appeared, followed by a blue shirt in the same tone and cuffs. When I met the angry face of the young man with the blue cap, he cleared his throat. Frightened, I jerked together. Promptly I felt how the Doctor beneath me was shaking dangerously. Even before he could catch himself again, we fell into the ice-cold water. The cold took my breath away. I pedaled back to the surface and gasped for air. Next to me, the Doctor also appeared snorting and shook the water out of his hair like a dog.

*oOo*

We trotted behind the watchman who was snorting with rage, Henri, as it was written on his name tag. He kept turning his flashlight in his hands as if it were a baton and not a conventional supermarket lamp. The Doctor and I left footprints of puddles and you could hear the soft dripping of our hair. Angrily I blew a wet strand from my face. The Doctor also had his hair wet in his forehead. The tips dripped incessantly and the drops ran like tears down his cheeks.

"Remind me to slap you next time you have such a great idea," I whispered quietly so Henri wouldn't hear me. I hoped that I seemed serious, for I had difficulty suppressing the giggling that ran up my throat. The Doctor looked at me with big, round puppy eyes, as if I had already slapped him. I forgivingly took his hand and he rubbed small circles with his thumb over the back of my hand. We hadn't even noticed that Henri had finally started talking. He talked fast and choppy, as if he had run a marathon. Again and again he gasped, speeding up his steps even more.

"Since these strange incidents we have been patrolling regularly! Finally I found you troublemakers! So you won't fool us again! Enough is enough!" he said at that moment. The Doctor's head jerked abruptly up and he gave me a haunting look. He hastily caught up with Henri.

"Strange incidents? What kind of strange incidents? Oh, I love strange incidents," the Doctor rejoiced. He looked out over the edge of his glasses and examined Henri. What secret was still hidden in the depths under Paris?


End file.
